The Reason
by DawnMay
Summary: Oneshot. "I may not be perfect Hermione, but I love you and I'm sorry for what I have done in the past" Tom Riddle did not die in the Final Battle. He used some magic and was twenty again. Hermione finds him in her house all bloodied up. He fakes amnesia and she takes care of him. Harry finds out the man is none other than Lord Voldemort. Ron is dead. R&R.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters and I do not own the song either.**

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**The Reason**

"Hermione… please believe me… I am sorry!" he pulled her to him by her hand and held her tightly in his arms.

"To-Voldemort please…! I am tired of your manipulations! I know what you have done, nothing can change what is done and know it, I will never let go of Ron for you! And no need to apologize because Voldemort, _I _am sorry to have given you a chance! Everyone was right, you don't deserve it! Heck I even ignored Dumbledore's portrait!" she pushed him away and kept walking ahead.

"What does that old codger have to do with anything? Why do you always have to bring everyone else between us? Why do you have to bring that ginger-git-" he caught her hand tightly and pushed her against the nearby tree. Both of them were in the woods far away from home or Hogwarts.

"He has a name!" she yelled at him and tried to get her wrist free from his grip but he was stronger. "And anyway, if there is a git here, it's you bloody-you-know-Voldemort!" she struggled harder.

"He's gone Hermione! He's g-o-n-e, gone! Get that in your head!" he yelled back ignoring her latter comment.

"And why is that?" she asked softly, her voice choking. "Why… why is he dead? Why have… why did…why… you killed him…"

Tears were starting to form in her eyes as he groaned, pushing himself against her tiny self.

"I never meant to do that… Hermione please believe me, I lost control! He was… pulling you away from me…" he whispered but kept himself strong, not letting his emotions get the best of him. It's not like he wasn't already swimming in the pool of emotions, he didn't need a wave to drown him into it.

"And he had the right to! I loved him, I allowed him. He is my husband Volde-" she hissed at him.

"Stop bloody calling me that! Listen, I have changed all right! I lost my bloody control! It was a mistake! How do you suppose I stay calm when the one and only person I ever loved is already someone else's?" he yelled moving his face closed to hers, not caring if his ears are soon going to explode with her yelling.

"Why shall I not call you that? Wasn't it you Mister Tom Marvolo Riddle who made that named for yourself? Oh, I am sorry; you of course want to be called 'My Lord'. Don't you?" she glared at him so hard that if it was not the darkest wizard of all time and someone else, they would have run for their dear life.

"Hermione just… please stop your tantrums! You very well know I did not draw out my wand that time! Bloody hell, I do not have a wand! I didn't even say those two words! It was accidental!"

"You do many things accidently, what if you end up killing me?"

"Hermione I-"

"I know you can do that! You are Voldemort for Merlin's sake and you are a psychopathic mass murderer! You tried to kill my parents, you tried to kill Harry so many times! You possessed Ginny and tried to use her to revive yourself! You killed Dumbledore! You killed Myrtle and your own fucking parents! And so many more people and you want me to believe you won't kill me? Just let me live for once! Since I entered the magical world, you… you've always made my life hard! We've been encountering you since my first year here! I can't believe I even adored you once… when I didn't know who Tom Marvolo Riddle was… I had seen your name in the trophy room when I was in my first year… I… I was such an idiot to actually think… that you were some awesome hero or something... I made a mistake again… I took you as my responsibility! And see what you have done! Everyone probably hates me now!" Tears were freely falling down her cheeks as she cried, no more able to stand straight, she started slumping down slowly towards the ground but he caught her and kept his arms around her, not letting her fall as she cried in his chest. He rubbed her back and tried not to let tears form in his eyes but he failed as a single tear dropped from his eyes. He had never cried before… he had never loved before…

Why did he fear death so much? He could have been done when that Potter killed him in the Final Battle. Why had he used that complex magic through Potter to recreate himself? No one knew at that time when his old body turned into small magical particles. They thought he was dead. They gathered those particles in a jar and gave it to Hermione to take care until they knew what they must do with the shreds of him.

And he had broken the jar when he revived months later, hurting himself as his blood flowed everywhere. Hermione wasn't at home at that moment. She was out on a date with Ron. He fell unconscious, having no wand to heal his wounds. His wand was broken into small pieces and burned, he later came to know by spying on Hermione whenever Harry came over. He wondered if that's what they were planning to do with his particles if he had been late.

Hermione had found him on the floor in her study room when she came back. She had tended to him and demanded who he was. Of course, she had never seen his twenty year old self. He was one year older than her physically. He didn't tell her his name of course. He simply faked amnesia. Of course Harry saw him one day. He warned Hermione, Tom had heard the whole conversation they had from behind the door. Hermione had told Harry to give him a chance. She had asked to take care of him and she did a very well job at that. She taught him things he faked he didn't know and things he really did not know about the muggle world. He was told she was a witch but wasn't told that he was a wizard, which he of course knew, but Hermione had planned to keep him as a muggle, it infuriated him to no ends but he controlled himself. She cooked him food and even put him to bed as though he was a baby. At first it was irritating but slowly he started craving her attention, especially when she went out with Ron or when he saw Ron dropping her home and kissing her goodbye.

She didn't try to revive his memory, saying that it was impossible. He had wanted to snort when she told him that. She obviously didn't want him to remember anything.

"I love you… I'm really sorry…" He whispered in her hair but she didn't respond and kept crying.

He knew she loved him too even though she denied it effectively. He had one day caught her saying she loved him and not Ron in her sleep when he had sneaked into her room one night. He had been planning to steal her wand and run away; knowing that loving her would gain him nothing except making him weak and she was a muggleborn on top of that. But when she had said those words, 'I love Tom… I'm sorry Ron… Tom... love… him', he couldn't help but sit down on the edge of her bed, his heart beating so fast, it even leaped in his throat… but he somehow had loved this feeling he never felt before. He had played with her hair and kissed her cheek, ending up falling asleep in the empty space next to her in her bed. After that time, she had never confessed to him or paid much attention to him like before. Of course he sneaked into her room and fell asleep next to her every time since she stopped putting him to bed. She would never mention it in the morning and slowly, he didn't need to sneak in anymore. Whenever she went to sleep, he'd simply follow her in her bedroom. She never complained, not even when they ended up tangled together under the sheets one day. She was blushing of course, and even his heart was beating, but neither mentioned it.

Though slowly, she started pushing him away. She locked her room and put wards around the room so he couldn't enter. It seemed to him that she found out that he was lying to her but that wasn't it. It was then that he started getting jealous. She had started spending much more time with that Weasley even though she loved him. He talked to her about it when he had had enough but she simply told him that she didn't love him and was taking care of him until he was fine enough to join a university and get on with his life.

Weasley had invited her to go on a tour to France with him once and Tom had used her wand secretly to make himself ill. He knew she would know if he was really ill by waving her wand at him so he seriously had to get ill. She had to take care of him now, she had apologized to Weasley but he coaxed her and told her that she could bring him along and take care of him in France too. She had agreed reluctantly and they had gone to France, through a portkey, much to Tom's displeasure. He had vomited in the garden they had landed. Of course Weasley was not happy with him and cursed loudly but kept quiet after Hermione glared at him. He was taken to bed and given a sleeping draught after some muggle medicines. When he woke up -which took two days but he was completely alright when he did- he found Hermione was already married! That's why Weasley had brought her to France, it was a surprise marriage! Who the hell does that? Thankfully it was not magically bonded. It was a muggle marriage and they planned on marrying again once they got back to the magical world. Weasley wanted to marry both the ways to make their bond 'stronger' but that wasn't going to happen if he had to do anything about it. He was so angry when he was told this news after waking up an hour ago, he ended up killing Weasley accidently. No one found Tom of course, since he was not in Britain, not under the radar of the Ministry of accidental magic. That's when he told her the truth.

He told her how he had used his connection with Potter to use the Deathly Hallows Potter possessed and resurrect himself and even get younger. She was angry of course. She threw many curses at him but he dodged effectively. When she got tired she simply started running and even apparated to get away from him but he had caught her during the process and both of them landed in the woods.

"Hermione… believe me, I won't follow my previous path. I know I am not a perfect person and I am sorry for everything I did to you! I've found a reason to live Hermione, don't take it away from me. I was never happy in my previous life; it was a rare occurrence and that too when I succeeded in making Horcruxes or times like that when I did something no one else ever could. But you make me happy, you make me feel content for no reason. If I wanted to use you, I would have done that long ago. I could have stolen your wand and run away but I didn't Hermione, and that's because I love you. I'll start over again Hermione, I'll never go in wizarding public, and I'll find a job in the muggle world… but please… please don't leave me! Marry me Hermione… both in the muggle and magical world. You don't need to tell anyone about this, you can keep your last name in the magical world. I'll stay away from magic… I promise…" he kissed her. She was still crying and didn't want to do this, she didn't want to betray Ron but she realized she had been betraying both these guys since she found out she was in love with the guy kissing her right now. She reluctantly kissed him back.

"Only if... Harry and Dumbledore are fine with it" she replied and gave a small small when he groaned.

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Harry, Ginny, Dumbledore, McGonagall, her parents, everyone had forgiven her. Ginny was upset for a year or two with her but forgave her eventually. Everyone knew what she did was right, even though loving a mass murdered can never be termed right but at least everyone lived in peace. There was no longer an evil wizard Lord Voldemort, it was just a man, Tom Marvolo Riddle, who loved his family to no bounds. She hadn't listened to Tom and had organized a proper wedding in the wizarding world. Of course only family attended and a few friends. No one else even got to know who her husband was. She didn't want everyone to know that Tom was not a muggle and Voldemort on top of that. Those who knew were sworn to secrecy. She was now Hermione Riddle and had married a muggle, and that's all everyone needed to know. She had taken a job in the Ministry in the department of Magical Creatures' Law Enforcement. Tom was a scientist who had helped develop better technology in the muggle world. He did use magic sometimes, using her wand but that was for personal things and not his creations. He didn't get his own wand until they had been married off for five years. They had twins in their second year of marriage, a girl and a boy. They had named them Rose and Marvolo respectively. Hermione had insisted on naming the boy Ronald but Tom had instantly disagreed. Hermione visited Ron's grave every year and every year dropped a white rose as an apology for everything that had happened. Rose and Marvolo were sworn to secrecy about their father too. They could not tell anyone that their father had once been evil. All they said was he was a muggle scientist. They knew all about their father and were proud of him for making the right choice, their reason being that Hermione was the best girl he could have found. When in Hogwarts, Rose had been sorted into Ravenclaw while Marvolo had been sorted in Slytherin but no one was upset with that since the new generation Slytherins were way better than the previous generation. Everyone in the wizarding world was happy and so were the Riddle family.

"I love you Hermione" Tom murmured in her year as he niggle her earlobe.

"I love you too Tom and now sleep already, I am tired and have to go to work tomorrow." He chuckled but obliged and stopped kissing her. Instead he snuggled with her and fell asleep happily.

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**I hope you all liked this one-shot. Please review.**


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